Chapter 1361: Child-Ghoul

Of course, this wouldn't seal it airtight, so he scraped up moss from near the opening to fill the gaps. This task was too slow for one person to do alone.

He Lingchuan tilted his head and gave Wang Fubao a look.

Wang Fubao had no choice but to turn back and help Wanqi Liang.

The two of them weren't very old, and back on the Yangshan Archipelago, they had originally disliked each other on sight and would fight whenever they met. Zhu Xiuer, who monitored the entire island, often said they were the ringleaders of trouble, and even after Qiu Hu punished them several times, it did no good. When He Lingchuan returned to the Flash Gold Plain, he had brought them along on a whim and specifically assigned them to the same group.

In these past ten days or so, the two had already had three or four private clashes, both big and small.

As long as it didn't affect their operations, He Lingchuan let them be.

Now that Wang Fubao was back to help, Wanqi Liang's movements paused; he glanced at him but said nothing, burying his head to continue sealing the cracks.

He had seen it clearly: just moments ago, when the Hinge-Tail Yellow Tiger attacked Pu Hua at the Greenery Villa, it was Wang Fubao who had charged in recklessly to save him; otherwise, how could Pu Hua have held on until now? No matter how much they loathed each other, they were now partners fighting side-by-side, and at critical moments, they might even have to take a bullet for one another.

With two strapping young men working, it was much faster than one; in no time at all, the stone cracks were all sealed, and the tiny-bodied bees couldn't fly in.

Only then did the two turn to catch up with the group.

He Lingchuan had already reached a stone chamber. This place had been reinforced from a natural karst cave, and the space was larger, capable of holding four or five horses standing side-by-side; it was originally used for stacking and transferring minerals.

Dong Rui was waiting for them there: "Come quickly and give me a hand."

The environment here was poor, and to perform a high-difficulty surgery, he needed someone to assist him.

The group spread out soft felt on the ground and let the wounded man lie flat.

Since the Medicine Ape Ling Guang was not here, Wanqi Feng took over the task of pulling the porcupine quills out of the subordinate's leg.

The Bat Demon Puppet had already returned to its master's side, so Dong Rui used it to treat Pu Hua's wounds.

Pu Hua's eyes were tightly shut, and his chest wasn't even rising or falling.

Wanqi Liang whispered: "Is he still alive?"

Even if anesthetic drugs were used, shouldn't a person still have a heartbeat? "He's not dead." Dong Rui told them to hold the two fluorescent spores steady to form shadowless lighting. "I used the Wood-Petrification Poison to pause his heartbeat, so naturally, there is no pulse or breathing. Otherwise, every time the heart beats, the injury becomes more severe."

He said triumphantly: "Pu Hua's current state is what you call 'half-dead'."

Everyone's inner thought: Is this really going to work?

In Panlong City, Wen Daolun's son, Wen Heng, had died from Wood-Petrification Poison; and in reality, Fu Shanyue's younger brother, Fu Shanji, had failed to plot against his elder brother and had instead poisoned himself, nearing death.

Dong Rui seemed to have heard them and let out a cold, mocking laugh: "Talking about toxicity without mentioning dosage is just ignorance! This stuff is a poison, but used correctly, it's a medicine!"

"You know best, you're right." He Lingchuan smoothed his feathers. "And then?"

"Then it's time for this little thing to make an appearance." Dong Rui took out tweezers, removed all the fragments embedded in Pu Hua's chest, and then sliced open the chest cavity, revealing the dark red heart inside.

"I didn't expect that today, the first thing I'd dissect wouldn't be a demon puppet, but a human." With the next cut, he sliced open the heart.

Everyone watched without daring to breathe. Dong Rui, however, was calm and collected; while busy with his hands, he said to He Lingchuan: "I heard the sentries' description of the white monster; it's somewhat like a rare demon called a 'Child-Ghoul'."

He Lingchuan answered honestly: "Never heard of it."

He tapped the mirror lightly, and the latter also repeated dully: "Never heard of it!"

As a knowledgeable Medieval Mirror, it hadn't heard of it either.

"They live in the extreme south, are adept at shapeshifting, and rarely does anyone see their true form." Dong Rui took out soft cotton to absorb the blood welling up in the atrium. "The ancient texts I've read were also copies; it's said the original author was an ancient immortal."

"Shapeshifting? It's not like a chameleon, is it?"

"No. It shapeshifts, then blends into a pile of prey, picks the fattest and most delicious one to eat, and loves brains the most. The victims usually have no external injuries." Dong Rui looked up, signaling Wanqi Liang to hold the fluorescent spores higher. "Believe me, there are very few demons in this world that can shapeshift."

He Lingchuan immediately thought of: "The Food-Abuser!"

"The Food-Abuser doesn't belong to the demons." It was a God-Child, or to be precise, half a demon cub; it was the strongest infant born by the Nine-Child Ghost Mother with the help of a human mother. "On the contrary, the Mirage Demon counts as one."

The Mirage Demon itself doesn't shapeshift; it creates illusions, causing visual hallucinations for the audience.

Wang Fubao held up two fingers and gestured in front of his lips: "Do Child-Ghouls eat like that white monster too?"

"That, I don't know; the ancient texts didn't write about how it eats, let alone that it sucks souls." Dong Rui gestured to the Bat Demon Puppet, and the latter leaned close to Pu Hua's heart, quickly licking up the blood.

The others didn't understand: "What is this for?"

"The location of the fragments is basically confirmed, but the tweezers can't reach in, so I can only leave it to him to suck them out."

After only seven or eight breaths, the Bat Demon Puppet suddenly stopped its movements, turned, and crawled onto Dong Rui's palm, spitting out a small clump of bruised blood.

Dong Rui mashed the clump of bruised blood, extracted a small fragment from it, and checked it against the light: "Yes, this is the thing; keep looking."

He continued: "But the ancient texts did say that the Child-Ghoul demon has a frail constitution, is adept at lurking rather than running, is only three feet tall, and likes environments heavy with snow and mist. Therefore—"

He Lingchuan had been partners with him for a long time and was used to his way of speaking: "So even if that monster really is a Child-Ghoul, it's been modified?"

"Correct." Dong Rui continued working without raising his head. "My peer still has some skill; since he could create monsters like Hinge-Tail Tigers and Porcupine Pillbugs, there's no reason he wouldn't take a knife to a Child-Ghoul."

"I just don't know where he got a live Child-Ghoul; tsk tsk, truly rare!" The envy that others couldn't understand overflowed in his words. "How come you can't get one?"

Heh, He Lingchuan pretended not to hear his complaint: "Assuming it is a Child-Ghoul. What do you think the relationship is between Xiao An, the Child-Ghoul, and this Demon Puppet Master?"

Currently, it was known that the demon puppets were very likely targeting Xiao An; in other words, the Demon Puppet Master's goal was first and foremost Xiao An.

"Those who attacked Xiao An and the people around her, like the five people of the Chen family and Wuma Xu, always died at the hands of the Child-Ghoul first. Several hours later, the other demon puppets would arrive to begin a massacre." The Bat Demon Puppet extracted another fragment, and Dong Rui patted its head. "Well done... so the Child-Ghoul is very likely to have been close to Xiao An all along."

He Lingchuan's heart stirred: "Do you remember how Xiao An described the monster chasing her?"

"Tall, thin, and pale, with no nose."

After tonight, they had a more intuitive impression; in other words, the monster chasing Xiao An was the Child-Ghoul.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1362 =====